Hilbun Jury Divided After 15 Days of Deliberations

A jury ended its 15th day of deliberations Thursday, divided on whether postal worker Mark Richard Hilbun was insane when he killed his mother and best friend during a two-day spree that included a bloody stop at the Dana Point post office where he worked.

The jury foreman reported in open court that the panel was about evenly divided for most of the 14 charges against Hilbun. He said the closest the jury could get to a unanimous verdict was 9 to 3 on two charges, but he did not indicate which side was prevailing.

He said the panel was divided 8 to 4 in favor of finding Hilbun insane on one charge. On most of the charges, he said, the group was divided 7 to 5 or 6 to 6.

The jury returns today in a last effort to decide on the complicated issue of Hilbun’s mental state at the time of the 1993 rampage, which also left five injured. The foreman said panelists would consider overnight whether any new direction from Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey could help them reach a decision.

The same jury found Hilbun guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and other felony charges of robbery, attempted robbery, attempted kidnapping and cruelty to animals. The verdict included special circumstances that could bring the death sentence if Hilbun is found to be sane.

The panel of six women and six men started pondering Hilbun’s sanity Sept. 5 after a four-week sanity phase. Thursday’s developments came two weeks after the jury first reported it was deadlocked but resumed deliberations.

Since then, jurors have been read trial testimony about the whereabouts of the gun Hilbun used, and testimony by psychiatrists who declared him psychotic at the time of the crimes.

“I’ve never had a jury in my experience work as hard as you folks have been on this case--or as long,” Dickey told the group.

Defense lawyers contend the spree was inspired by delusions that the world was about to end. Medical experts testified he has a long history of mental problems, including manic depression and schizophrenia. But the prosecutor contends Hilbun exaggerated his mental problems and knew what he was doing because of the planning and evasive actions he took.